Archbishop Justin Welby’s extension of an invitation
to the Anglican Church in North America to send representatives to a Primates
meeting in January 2016 and more recently to the dedication of
Virginia Theological Seminary’s new chapel is a part of
his effort to bring different elements to the table to discuss and adopt his
proposal for the restructuring of the Anglican Communion. Under this proposal
the very touchstone of authentic historic Anglicanism—the Holy Scriptures and
the Anglican formularies—would be jettisoned and would be replaced by a policy
of tolerance of moral and theological pluralism. The proposal would recognize
the chaotic state of affairs in the Anglican Communion with disparate
moralities and theologies competing with each other for ascendancy as
normative.

While the Anglican Church in North America may style
itself as “Anglican,” the liturgies and the catechism that the ACNA has
produced to date and to which the College of Bishops have given its endorsement
represent a major departure from authentic historic Anglicanism. They deviate
significantly from the faith and doctrine commanded in the Holy Scriptures and
taught in the Anglican formularies—the Articles of Religion of 1571, the Book
of Common Prayer of 1662, the Ordinal of 1662, and the Book of Homilies of 1547
and 1571. They countenances teaching and practices rejected by the Anglican
Reformers and eschewed by biblically faithful Anglicans.

Under Welby’s proposal any ecclesial body may style
itself as Anglican whatever it may believe and practice as long as it has
formal recognition of the See of Canterbury. While the Anglican Church in North
America might benefit from the adoption of the proposal, it would come at a
great cost to authentic historic Anglicanism and to the gospel.

In the Jerusalem Declaration the GAFCON Primates
issued a call to the churches, provinces, and dioceses of the Anglican
Communion to return to the Holy Scriptures and the Anglican formularies. The
ecclesial body that they helped to birth in North America, however, has not
responded to that call. The ecclesial body that they prematurely endorsed as
being “genuinely Anglican” has emerged as not being fully Anglican in terms of
its adherence to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures and the doctrinal and
worship principles of the Anglican formularies. Its affirmation of the
Jerusalem Declaration is purely rhetorical. While it contains biblically
faithful, fully Anglican clergy and congregations, this description cannot be
applied to all its clergy and congregations and particularly to a large segment
of its College of Bishops.

The GAFCON Primates are presently considering
how they should respond to the invitation to attend the January Primates
meeting. At that meeting they will be asked to endorse a
proposal that would make the Jerusalem Declaration a dead letter. They have
tolerated the Anglican Church in North America’s divergence from authentic
historical Anglicanism. On what grounds can they refuse to attend the meeting?
The departure of the Anglican Church in North America from the teaching of the
Holy Scriptures and the doctrinal and worship principles of the Anglican
formularies undercuts their own claim to be upholding and defending the
touchstone of genuine Anglicanism.

Whatever the GAFCON Primates decide, the pressing
need for the formation of a convocation of Anglican churches in the United
States and Canada that is faithful to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures and
the doctrinal and worship principles of the Anglican formularies is not going
to go away. Biblically faithful Anglican clergy and congregations need an
ecclesial body in which they can flourish and grow. Not only is the future of
authentic historic Anglicanism in North America at stake but the gospel itself.
The gospel implicit in the teaching and practices countenanced in the liturgies
and the catechism of the Anglican Church in North America is not the gospel
revealed in the Holy Scriptures. It is a different gospel!